Ugly Feather
by Soyna
Summary: Reno learns that appearances aren't everything.  Effectiveness is the important thing.


**Ugly Feather**

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**Warning:  
PG. Blood and a hell of a lot of pain.**

**Main Characters:**

Reno and Rufus

**Summary**:  
Appearances aren't everything. Effectiveness is the important thing.

**Disclaimer:  
Don't own, just using for my own amusement**

**Author's note:  
** I don't think this is what :iconphnxdown: was expecting but this is what became of it.

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For something that was supposed to be so powerful, it was rather lame-looking. The colour was a horrible, dull yellow that reminded him of an old bruise. It looked like it should be soft, but it was actually quite prickly and hard.

It was a potent piece of crap.

Tseng made sure they had one on their person at all times. He swore he was carrying the same dirty, musty old thing for years as Tseng made sure he got the same one. Elena got a fancy new one that was as long as her arm and glowed gold. Rude got one that was small but it had a red glow to it. He had seen that Tseng had his own special feather that was a mixture of red, orange and yellow and he swore that it sparkled.

Why did he get the ugly phoenix down?

It had bugged him and he frowned every time Tseng gave it back to him when he asked for one that wasn't so ugly.

"It will work, and that is all that matters," Tseng had said in response.

He wanted the gold, sparkling one because it was a hell of a lot prettier than the stupid, murky yellow one that he was forced to carry.

He tried to take Elena's but she had told on him, and Tseng made him give it back. He tried to take Rude's once but he ended up with the dark man's hand on his throat and the man demanding that he return his item.

He didn't dare try to take Tseng's.

And he didn't dare use his own; he didn't trust the thing. There had been a couple of close calls dealing with those crazy AVALANCHE dudes where he thought he was going to have to risk using it, but it never came down to him having to risk the ugly feather failing on him.

He would rather stock up on those awful-tasting potions than risk using the dead, ugly and wimpy-looking feather.

He still had it as he rushed to the rubble that was left of the Shin-Ra tower. The smoking mess that was once the center of power in Gaia was nothing more than a groaning and leaning heap. He had tried using his phone but he couldn't get a hold of anyone to help him.

Elena was most likely still a stuttering mess over Tseng nearly dying at the temple. She hadn't left his side at the hospital. She had to use her feather to prevent him from dying before they could get him to proper medical care, but he still had not woken up from being skewered by Sephiroth.

He had no idea where Rude had gone as he had lost track of his partner in the chaos of the Diamond Weapon attack. And now …

Rufus.

"Boss!" he yelled through the smoke as he ran up the stairs. He was nearly to the top and his breath was nearly gone. There was smoke everywhere, but that wasn't going to stop him from finding Rufus. He took in deep gulping breaths of the acidic air and ended up coughing.

He knew Rufus was here, being all noble, thinking that he can save the world with a big weapon.

"Boss!" he yelled again and coughed as he staggered through the smoke. The only thing he could see was the screen of his phone and the tracking device that was leading to him. At least that was still working.

The little white dot on his screen gave him hope that he was still alive.

"Rufus!" he yelled and coughed as he staggered forward. He was having a lot of trouble breathing by the time that he got to the point where the small white dot was now solid. He looked around and saw the tell-tale white coat slumped in a corner.

The white was now dirty, faded and blended with the smoke. The red pool beneath it almost glowed as he rushed forward.

"Rufus," he said as he pulled on the jacket. He knew it was not going to be pretty as the pale face came into view. "Yo?" he said and coughed. He ran his hand over the soot-covered face briefly and then put his hand on his throat to see if he could feel a pulse. He tried to find one and frantically looked down the body. He could see that his body was twisted wrong and one of his legs looked as though it were broken in a few places.

Blood was a very bright splash of colour against the grey ash of the crumbling structure.

His hand roamed over the man's neck. "Boss," he whispered as he did so, tearing at his jacket, trying to find a heartbeat. "Come on, yo, you're stronger than a little explosion."

He stopped breathing as he put his head against his chest to see if he could hear his heart.

The silence made his heart drop and his breath stop.

"Boss," his voice wavered. He didn't get an answer as he held the very limp and heavy body in his arms.

"You're not allowed to die." Reno shook the man, trying to get a response out of him. Rufus' hand moved and fell into the pool of blood that had stopped growing.

"No," he whispered as he shook him again. The shaking only caused the blood to splash onto the ash-covered suit. "No fuckin' way, yo. Rufus. Enough of this game, man."

Reno opened the jacket further and pressed his hand over his heart. He didn't feel anything but cold skin.

"Rufus," he said as his throat felt like it was going to close. His eyes were burning and not just from the smoke. "I need ya ta wake up. We can't make it without ya. Ya know that, right?"

Rufus head lolled to the side, but it was just because Reno was shaking so bad.

Reno laid Rufus down on the rubble ground and rested his head against his thigh as he reached into his jacket and pulled out the ugly and dull feather. "Ya better fuckin' work, yo," he whispered. He pulled apart the layers of Rufus' jacket to bare the bruised chest and laid the feather there.

"Work," he commanded. The ugly feather just sat on his chest. The stupid, dull thing didn't sparkle or didn't move. It lay there looking stiff and useless.

He willed Rufus' to come back and for the feather to make him breathe again.

It didn't do anything but sit there. His eyes blurred from the tears and all he could see the was the ugly, yellow feather against the sea of white and red.

He let out a gasp and a sob as he closed his eyes. He reached forward and pulled Rufus into his chest.

"Sorry, Boss," Reno whispered. "Knew it was a dud. If ya meet Tseng in the Lifestream, ya can tell him that he fucked up."

It was over. The reign of Shin-Ra and the vision of how he wanted to rebuild the world and find the true Promised Land was gone. It was gone with the stilled man in his arms.

The building creaked and groaned, the floor shifted beneath him. He gritted his teeth and held Rufus tighter. "Sorry, ya died alone, Boss."

The room was getting warm now as the fire was moving closer. He didn't think he had the energy to run with Rufus down the stairs, but he wasn't going to leave him behind.

Even if he was dead.

He adjusted himself so that he was leaning against a crumbling wall and moved the body into his lap. "Might as well get comfortable." He chuckled as he ran a hand through the blond hair and looked at the pained face of his former boss.

"I hope ya didn't hurt too much, yo," Reno whispered as he caressed his cheek.

There was another heavy groan and the building shifted. Dust filtered down onto him and he instinctively covered the face of Rufus with his own.

Rufus moved. At first he thought it was because of how he shifted. The building had stopped moving and Rufus' head moved against his chest and the small, hoarse moan was not coming from the building.

Then he noticed that his ugly feather was gone.

"Boss?" he whispered hopefully. He ran his hands up his face and placed a thumb by one of his eyes and tried to open it. Instead, Rufus moved his face away from the touch.

He would have yelled for joy and jumped around the room if he wasn't trapped in a smouldering and collapsing building. His heart was racing as he tried to think of how they were going to get out of there now.

The ugly feather worked and Rufus was alive, but just barely. He had to get him out of there and now. He pulled out a potion and forced Rufus' mouth open and poured it over his mouth. Most of it spilled on his clothes but some of it got in there because his eyes opened a slit. One looked normal and the other let out a bloody tear and Reno had a worried moment that Rufus didn't have that eye anymore.

"I'll get us out of here, Boss," he whispered as the eyes slowly blinked at him before closing again. Rufus sounded like he was trying to say something but the small sounds were lost in a horrendous shriek of moving steel.

He stood, trying to keep Rufus in his arms as he did so, and he nearly dropped him before he was able to recover. He could worry about being gentle after they got out of the crumbling building. He panted as he carried the man down the stairs, having to stop every time the building rocked from an inner explosion or an upper collapse. It was tiring and time consuming.

He made it down twenty floors when his knee gave out and he stumbled down a few steps. He turned his body so that it was his back that took the brunt of the fall and not Rufus, who fell heavily onto him.

He panted as he made sure that Rufus was still okay. It was hard to move with the new pain in his back and he wasn't sure he was going to be able to get up after the stumble.

But he did as he laid Rufus' head against his thigh and tried to make sure that he was lying down as much as his twisted body would allow. Rufus' bare chest was moving slowly, showing Reno that he was still alive. It also showed him that the feather was still working.

An ugly yellow, but glowing smear was in the center of his chest that pulsed with every breath that he took.

"Fuckin'-a," he whispered as he ran his hand down to touch the spot and found that it was surprisingly warm and comforting. He kept his hand on that glowing, golden spot and was grateful that the ugly feather was so powerful. He could feel the magic crawling up through his fingers and into his arm.

Phoenix downs didn't work like this, but he didn't care. He was grateful that this one did and that it decided to share its magic with him. He felt the ache in his back ease a bit and he seemed to gain some of his breath back.

"We're gonna make it, Boss," he said as he removed his hand from Rufus' chest. Rufus needed the healing more than he did.

His phone rang and he jumped at the alien sound. He had forgotten all about his phone after he had found Rufus. The harsh bells might as well have been angels singing with how beautiful it sounded at the moment.

He pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Rude, I hope that's you."

"Where are you?" the deep voice demanded.

"I got Bossman," he said as he collapsed back on the stairs and his other hand rested on the messy mop of blond hair.

"Where?"

"Yo, I think I'm around floor thirty or somethin', yo," Reno said. "He's hurt and I'm not doin' too hot either."

There was another ominous creek in the building and he didn't hear Rude's answer. "I'll keep movin' on down but Rufus' is gonna need help right away."

"Right," Rude said and then he was greeted with silence.

Reno let the phone drop from his hand and lay like that. He allowed himself to have a couple more moments to breathe before he had to scoop up Rufus and try to get him to some proper help.

He didn't know how much longer the ugly feather was going to last as he could still see the glow etched on Rufus' chest.

He sighed heavily as he removed his hand from Rufus' hair and started to gather the man in his arms again. He wasn't sure that he was going to make it. He wasn't sure if he had the strength to carry on any of this, but he was going to damn well try …

… because if an ugly feather could make a difference and put up a fight, he could damn well put the effort forth too.


End file.
